Malachi 3:7 - Meaning and Application

Here God brings a case against the people of that generation for turning away from his service and robbing him. They were wicked servants, because they did not only run from their Master, they also carried off their Master’s goods. First, they had run away from their Master and left the work he had given them to do, as verse 7 says: “You have turned away from my statutes and have not kept them.”

God’s ordinances, meaning the appointed rules of his worship and life, were the work they were meant to serve. These were the duties they had to guard, trade with, and keep in trust. But they turned away from them, grew tired of them, and refused the yoke. They stepped away from the rule God had given them and broke the trust placed in them. They had rebelled against God not only in worship, but also in daily life, because they did not keep his ordinances.

This guilt was not new. They had been guilty of this from the days of their fathers, either like their fathers long ago, who were sent into captivity for their disobedience, or in the sense that for many generations they had fallen away from what they once were after returning from captivity. Ezra confessed the same kind of sin in one case: “Since the days of our fathers have we been in great guilt to this day” (Ezra 9:7).

Now notice, first, the gracious call God gives them to come back and repent. He says, “Return to me,” meaning return to your duty, your loyalty, and your service. Return like a traveler who has lost the road, like a soldier who has deserted, or like a wife who has left her husband. He calls them, “Return, backsliding Israel,” and promises, “Then I will return to you,” meaning he will be reconciled, remove the judgments they were under, and keep away the ones they feared. This had long been God’s message through his prophets, as in (Zechariah 1:3), and it still is.

Second, notice the rude answer they gave to this kind invitation. They spoke with contempt, to the prophets who warned them, to one another, and even in their own hearts to quiet their guilt. They said, “How are we to return?” God notices what answer our hearts make to his word. He sees what we say and even what we think after hearing a sermon. When God calls us back, we should answer like those in (Jeremiah 3:22), “Here we are, we will come.” But these people did not answer that way.

They acted as if it were an insult to be told their faults and called to change. They were ready to complain, “Why do these prophets make such a fuss about repentance? Why are we being shamed and upset like this?” It is a bad sign when people treat correction as an insult and resist it.

They also showed how blind they were to themselves. They did not understand the depth, reach, and spiritual nature of God’s law. So they could see nothing in themselves that needed repentance or reform. They thought they were pure and had no need to change.

They were also set on sin, so they looked for many foolish excuses to avoid repentance and turn away the call to repent. Their words sound like people who simply wanted something to say. It was only an evasion, almost mockery, and a challenge for the prophet to name specific sins. Many destroy their own souls by dodging the call to repent.

Second, they had robbed their Master and kept back his goods. They had asked, “How have we failed? What have we done wrong?” Then God tells them plainly. The charge is serious: “You have robbed me.” This is sacrilege, which means stealing what belongs to God, and it is one of the worst kinds of theft.

He presses the point with them. Would a person dare to rob God? Man is weak and cannot fight against God’s power, so how could he think to rob him by force? Man cannot hide from God’s knowledge, so how could he think to rob him in secret? Man depends on God for everything, so how could he rob the one who has done him good? It is ungrateful, unjust, and cruel, and it is foolish to provoke the one from whom our judgment comes.

The people answered, “How have we robbed you?” They denied the charge and put God to the proof. Robbing God is such a serious sin that guilty people usually do not want to admit it. Yet people rob him in many ways. They rob him of his honor, of what is devoted to his service, of themselves, of Sabbath time, and of what should support religion. Even so, they ask, “How have we robbed you?”

The proof is clear: it was in tithes and offerings. Tithes were the required portion that supported the priests and Levites, the ministers who served in the temple, and offerings were the gifts God required for his worship. But the people kept these back. They cheated the priests, refusing to pay in full, or not paying the best parts. They did not bring the offerings God asked for, or they brought animals that were torn, lame, or sick, which were unfit for sacrifice.

The whole nation was guilty, as if they had joined together against God. Because of this, they were cursed with a curse, as verse 9 says. God punished them with famine and shortage, through bad weather or insects that destroyed the crops. He had done the same before when they neglected to rebuild the temple (Haggai 1:10, Haggai 1:11), and now he punished them for failing to support its service. Those who deny God his share of what they have may rightly expect a curse on what remains to them.

It is a serious thing when people keep sinning even after God has already rebuked them through trouble. Worse still, it seems they used their poverty as an excuse for robbing God. Because they had little, they said they could not afford to bring their tithes and offerings, so they had to keep them for their own families. But afflictions are meant to turn people away from sin, not give them excuses for it. When they had little, they should have done more good with that little. That would have been the way to make it increase.

This is a serious call to reform in this matter, with a promise that if they obeyed, the judgments on them would soon be removed. They must begin by doing their duty: “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse” (Malachi 3:10). They had brought some, but like Ananias and Sapphira, who lied about giving all they owed, they had kept part back. They claimed they could not afford to give what the law required, but even hardship must not be used as an excuse here.

God’s house must come first. They were to bring the full tithes, all that the law required, so there would be food in God’s house for those who served at the altar, whether their own homes were full or not. The point is plain, God must be served first, and each person must give his share to support true religion where he lives. God’s name, kingdom, and will must matter even before daily bread, because the good of the soul is more important than the needs of the body.

Then they must trust God to care for them. God says, “Test me now” (Malachi 3:10), that is, obey first, and then see whether he will not bless them. They had wanted God to restore their prosperity first, and then they would have been faithful again. God reverses that order, bring in the full tithes, even the unpaid tithes from before, and then see what he will do.

Those who deal with God must do so on trust. Many have seemed to lose by serving him, but no one has ever truly lost in the end. It is right to venture first, because God’s reward is sure, even while our duty is still before us. Elijah used the same kind of test with the widow of Zarephath, when he told her to make him a little cake first, and then see whether there would be enough afterward for her and her son (1 Kings 17:13).

What often keeps people from giving in charity is weak faith. They cannot believe they will gain by it. But God makes a fair challenge: “Prove me now,” as if he were saying, “Come and see whether charity truly brings loss.” We must trust his word and act on it, and then we will find it true.

First, God promises to open the windows of heaven (Malachi 3:10). The sky had been shut up, and there had been no rain, but now he would send the needed rain in its season. The words may also mean something wider: every good gift comes from above, and God would pour out his gifts richly on them. The picture is of such sudden abundance that there would be no room to receive it all, like a barn too small for the harvest (Luke 12:18). Or, as Dr. Pocock explains it, the blessing would be more than enough, more than sufficient, and more and more besides.

God not only receives repentant sinners, he becomes a generous giver to them. We are never short in him, only in ourselves. He has blessings ready, but our weak faith and narrow desires often leave us with too little room to receive them.

Second, God promises to remove the judgment that had ruined their crops. He would rebuke the devourer for their sake and stop the destructive creatures that were eating the earth’s produce and the fruit of the trees (Malachi 3:11). God has every creature under his command. The vine would no longer drop its fruit early or fail before harvest. Some understand this to mean that the devourer would no longer make the vine barren, as the locusts had done (Joel 1:7).

Third, their neighbors would no longer mock their poverty. They had been shamed by famine, which hurt even more because their land had once been known for plenty. Now all nations would call them blessed and speak well of them. They would be seen as a happy people.

Fourth, their land itself would become pleasing again. Their sin had made it unpleasing to God, even their temple, altars, and offerings were offensive (Malachi 2:13). His judgments had also made the land sad and unpleasant to them. But now, “You shall be a delightful land.” Their country would again be acceptable to God and pleasant for them. When religion revives in a land, that land becomes delightful both to God and to his people. He says, “It is my resting place forever; here I will live,” and they say the same (Isaiah 62:4; Deuteronomy 11:12).

It seems this command to bring in the tithes had a good result, for later we read that all Judah brought the tithe into the storehouses (Nehemiah 13:12). No doubt they received the benefit of these promises when their plenty returned as soon as they returned to their duty. Then they could clearly see what had caused their trouble, for when the cause was removed, the trouble was removed too. They also saw how fully God had forgiven them, and how their sin was remembered no more, because the curse was not only taken away but turned into a rich blessing.